CancerVax to lay off about 100 employees

CARLSBAD —— CancerVax Corp. announced late Monday it will lay
off about 100 employees as a result of a decision to stop a
late-stage test for a melanoma vaccine and drop future development
of the product.

In after-hours trading, the company's stock price dropped to $2
—— off 31.51 percent from its opening price of $3.46. The 52-week
high had been $11.45 and the prior low $2.70.

Chief executive officer David Hale said the move to halt any
more work on Canvaxin's development or manufacturing was not due to
safety issues. The vaccine, was being developed with Swiss-based
Serona to stimulate the body's immune system to fight melanoma, a
deadly form of skin cancer.

Hale said the moves, which will cut the CancerVax workforce from
183 to about 80, will enable the company to focus on other
late-stage cancer treatments.

"We will continue to review our resource requirements as we
refine our strategies over the coming weeks," he stated in the
press release.

Monday's announcement followed a recommendation from the
independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board which reported that
data from the Phase 3 testing was unlikely to provide "significant
evidence of an overall survival benefit for patients" when compared
to those who received a placebo. The board consists of medical and
ethics experts who periodically monitor data from clinical trials
and make recommendations on whether studies should be modified or
discontinued.

Phase 3 trials are usually the last step before a medicine is
judged for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

In April the company had said Canvaxin failed to demonstrate it
prolonged the lives of patients with Stage IV melanoma, an advanced
form of the disease but at that time continued testing for Stage
III melanoma.